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Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Stephane Sarrazin face the media after placing their Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050-Hybrid on the pole for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Kamui Kobayashi broke a track record with his 24 Hours of Le Mans pole lap

Toyota Gazoo Racing will start the 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans from the pole

June 15, 2017

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Toyota struck first this weekend in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Kamui Kobayashi captured the pole with a record-breaking lap.

The Japanese ex-Formula 1 driver topped the chart with a 3:14.791 lap that not only left him more than two seconds ahead of his closest rival, it was also the fastest lap in Le Mans history. His average speed of 156.52 mph eclipsed the 156.47-mph lap that Hans Stuck posted in 1985 on a track configuration that didn't even include the Mulsanne Straight chicane or the Dunlop chicane.

Kobayashi set the new record inside the No. 7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID straight after a 45-minute break for barrier repairs in the first of the two Thursday qualifying sessions. He was on the track at the same time while a pair of Porsche 919 Hybrids were going for their fast times, but he found a clear circuit on the way to smashing Neel Jani's qualifying record on the current configuration.

"I went at the right time on the right tires, and it was correct to go straight after the red flag," Kobayashi said afterward. "It was a brilliant lap, no mistakes and no traffic. I really wanted to jump in the car because my teammates had done such a good job setting it up.

"I thought I could do a 3:16 or maybe a low 3:15, but when I saw 3:14, I thought 'wow.'"

Jani posted a 3:17.259 in the No. 1, while Timo Bernhard posted a 3:18.067 in the No. 2 entry after their runs.

Toyota ended up with two on the front row after Kazumi Nakajima posted a 3:17.128 in the No. 8 during the final session. This was after an engine change earlier in the day. The third Toyota came fifth at 3:18.625 with Nicolas Lapierre behind the wheel. The only other LMP1 car in the field, the ByKolles team's ENSO CLM-NISMO P1/01, took sixth place with a 3:24.170 from Oliver Webb.

The late run from Webb moved the CLM back ahead of the fastest LMP2 cars. Former Williams Formula 1 test driver Alex Lynn jumped to the top of the class order in the final session aboard the G-Drive Racing ORECA-Gibson 07 with a 3:25.352, which eclipsed Vitaly Petrov's 3:25.549 in the best of the Manor ORECAS.

Aston Martin took pole in GTE-Pro under the cover of darkness with a late run from Darren Turner. His 3:50.837 aboard the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage GTE jumped teammate Richie Stanaway, who was then pushed down to third in the final minutes.

Stanaway's 3:51.038 was eclipsed by just one-hundredth of a second by James Calado in the fastest of the two factory AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs. Sam Bird also made a late run to register a 3:51.086 in the second AF entry, which knocked Ford driver Ryan Briscoe down to fourth position.

Fernando Rees led the way in GTE Am for the Chevrolet-equipped Larbre Competition squad.

The next chance teams will have to hit the track will come on Saturday morning with a 45-minute warmup session prior to the start of the race at 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) with live coverage on Fox Sports 1.